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Children who have contact with their fathers following a family break-up
suffer fewer behavioral problems, academics said today.

Youngsters who have a close relationship with their natural father after
their parents split up are likely to be less disorderly, anxious or
aggressive.

Researchers discovered that children who had infrequent or no contact at all
with their non-resident fathers were more likely to externalize and
internalize problems.

Professor Judy Dunn from the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College,
London, analyzed data collected from 162 children whose parents had
separated over a two-year period.

Of those children, 18% had no contact with their father, and 16% had contact
less than once a month.

The research was part of the continuing Children Of The 90s project based at
Bristol University, which has been monitoring the progress of 14,000
children in the Avon area since 1991.

The findings were published in the Journal of Child Psychology and
Psychiatry.

Prof Dunn said: "There is a practical message here - parents should make a
great effort to get on well after they split up.

"They should put their differences behind them for the sake of the children.
The more contact there is the better the outcome for the children."

Researchers interviewed all 162 children (initially at an average age of
eight and a half) about their relationship with their mothers, fathers and
stepfathers.

The mothers were asked to report on children's behavior, on whether they
were aggressive or delinquent (externalizing behavior) or withdrawn,
anxious, or depressed (internalizing).

The research comes in the wake of an attack on the Prime Minister with a
purple flour bomb by campaign group Fathers 4 Justice.

Rights

The group claims current laws are failing children and fathers and wants
better parenting rights for fathers.

Prof Dunn said: "This research is the best kind of thing to support the case
of some desperate campaigners who want more access to their children.

"Our findings were unequivocal: more frequent and more regular contact was
associated with closer more intense relationships with non resident fathers
and fewer adjustment problems in children."

Prof Dunn noted that the amount of contact between a child and a father was
related to the relationship between the parents.

She added: "This underlines the importance of parents developing a good
working relationship over children's issues and of keeping any problems in
their own relationships separate from their parenting."

The research showed there tended to be less contact between children and
their fathers if the mothers had been relatively young when pregnant.

--
------------------------------------------------------------
Eliminate the impossible and whatever
remains, no matter how improbable, must
be the truth.

Geez, just noticed the cross post on my earlier response. Before anybody
gets all up in arms at the idea that I'd ask about kids whose fathers are
less than sterling, I'd like to point out that this was intended as a
legitimate question (which would have been understood in the one group on
this distribution list that I normally post to). There seem to be a lot of
studies on the negative effect on kids of having less contact with a parent
after a divorce - but this always seems to refer to kids who actually had a
significant relationship with both parents before the divorce. My "What
about those kids whose fathers didn't pay attention to them *before* the
divorce?" question was referring to those kids who, well, didn't have a
significant relationship with both parents before the divorce. I don't
think I've ever seen a study on the effect of divorce on those kids, and
wondered if there are any such studies.

Joy

"Joy" wrote in message
...

"Dusty" wrote in message
...
Tuesday, 25th May 2004
Fathers the key to child behavior

Children who have contact with their fathers following a family break-up
suffer fewer behavioral problems, academics said today.

Youngsters who have a close relationship with their natural father after
their parents split up are likely to be less disorderly, anxious or
aggressive.

What about those kids whose fathers didn't pay attention to them *before*
the divorce?

Geez, just noticed the cross post on my earlier response. Before anybody
gets all up in arms at the idea that I'd ask about kids whose fathers are
less than sterling, I'd like to point out that this was intended as a
legitimate question (which would have been understood in the one group on
this distribution list that I normally post to). There seem to be a lot of
studies on the negative effect on kids of having less contact with a parent
after a divorce - but this always seems to refer to kids who actually had a
significant relationship with both parents before the divorce. My "What
about those kids whose fathers didn't pay attention to them *before* the
divorce?" question was referring to those kids who, well, didn't have a
significant relationship with both parents before the divorce. I don't
think I've ever seen a study on the effect of divorce on those kids, and
wondered if there are any such studies.

Joy

"Joy" wrote in message
...

"Dusty" wrote in message
...
Tuesday, 25th May 2004
Fathers the key to child behavior

Children who have contact with their fathers following a family break-up
suffer fewer behavioral problems, academics said today.

Youngsters who have a close relationship with their natural father after
their parents split up are likely to be less disorderly, anxious or
aggressive.

What about those kids whose fathers didn't pay attention to them *before*
the divorce?

Geez, just noticed the cross post on my earlier response. Before anybody
gets all up in arms at the idea that I'd ask about kids whose fathers are
less than sterling, I'd like to point out that this was intended as a
legitimate question (which would have been understood in the one group on
this distribution list that I normally post to). There seem to be a lot of
studies on the negative effect on kids of having less contact with a parent
after a divorce - but this always seems to refer to kids who actually had a
significant relationship with both parents before the divorce. My "What
about those kids whose fathers didn't pay attention to them *before* the
divorce?" question was referring to those kids who, well, didn't have a
significant relationship with both parents before the divorce. I don't
think I've ever seen a study on the effect of divorce on those kids, and
wondered if there are any such studies.

Joy

"Joy" wrote in message
...

"Dusty" wrote in message
...
Tuesday, 25th May 2004
Fathers the key to child behavior

Children who have contact with their fathers following a family break-up
suffer fewer behavioral problems, academics said today.

Youngsters who have a close relationship with their natural father after
their parents split up are likely to be less disorderly, anxious or
aggressive.

What about those kids whose fathers didn't pay attention to them *before*
the divorce?

"Joy" wrote in message
...
Geez, just noticed the cross post on my earlier response. Before anybody
gets all up in arms at the idea that I'd ask about kids whose fathers are
less than sterling, I'd like to point out that this was intended as a
legitimate question (which would have been understood in the one group on
this distribution list that I normally post to). There seem to be a lot
of
studies on the negative effect on kids of having less contact with a
parent
after a divorce - but this always seems to refer to kids who actually had
a
significant relationship with both parents before the divorce. My "What
about those kids whose fathers didn't pay attention to them *before* the
divorce?" question was referring to those kids who, well, didn't have a
significant relationship with both parents before the divorce. I don't
think I've ever seen a study on the effect of divorce on those kids, and
wondered if there are any such studies.

There is tons of research on mothers of children who didn't have a
significant relationship with their children (or the child's father) before
the mothers were forced to give up the children. The fact a child's parents
were married or not married has nothing to do with parental involvement pre
or post divorce. The real issue is the number of children who are growing
up without fathers in their lives.

"Joy" wrote in message
...
Geez, just noticed the cross post on my earlier response. Before anybody
gets all up in arms at the idea that I'd ask about kids whose fathers are
less than sterling, I'd like to point out that this was intended as a
legitimate question (which would have been understood in the one group on
this distribution list that I normally post to). There seem to be a lot
of
studies on the negative effect on kids of having less contact with a
parent
after a divorce - but this always seems to refer to kids who actually had
a
significant relationship with both parents before the divorce. My "What
about those kids whose fathers didn't pay attention to them *before* the
divorce?" question was referring to those kids who, well, didn't have a
significant relationship with both parents before the divorce. I don't
think I've ever seen a study on the effect of divorce on those kids, and
wondered if there are any such studies.

There is tons of research on mothers of children who didn't have a
significant relationship with their children (or the child's father) before
the mothers were forced to give up the children. The fact a child's parents
were married or not married has nothing to do with parental involvement pre
or post divorce. The real issue is the number of children who are growing
up without fathers in their lives.

"Joy" wrote in message
...
Geez, just noticed the cross post on my earlier response. Before anybody
gets all up in arms at the idea that I'd ask about kids whose fathers are
less than sterling, I'd like to point out that this was intended as a
legitimate question (which would have been understood in the one group on
this distribution list that I normally post to). There seem to be a lot
of
studies on the negative effect on kids of having less contact with a
parent
after a divorce - but this always seems to refer to kids who actually had
a
significant relationship with both parents before the divorce. My "What
about those kids whose fathers didn't pay attention to them *before* the
divorce?" question was referring to those kids who, well, didn't have a
significant relationship with both parents before the divorce. I don't
think I've ever seen a study on the effect of divorce on those kids, and
wondered if there are any such studies.

There is tons of research on mothers of children who didn't have a
significant relationship with their children (or the child's father) before
the mothers were forced to give up the children. The fact a child's parents
were married or not married has nothing to do with parental involvement pre
or post divorce. The real issue is the number of children who are growing
up without fathers in their lives.